This Black Feeling

More About This Black Feeling

This Black Feeling is a culmination of my artistic evolution thus far, bringing together works from ongoing and completed projects, individual pieces, and exploratory sketches. Serving as a window into my visual world, it reveals the techniques, narratives, and emotions that define my practice.

Moving between the surreal and the real, my work is imbued with a recurring sensation of black, but not bleak. A duality of darkness that is rich, not empty, a space of possibility rather than absence. For me black and Blackness (both as a color and a social construct) carries a profound complexity: it is a lived reality, rich with depth, emotion, beauty, a timeless resonance, and so much more. Through this collection of works, I invite viewers to engage with their layered meaning and the enduring power of black both as an aesthetic and a conceptual force.

More About Zaire

Rooted in my Southern upbringing, my work explores Blackness—both a social construct and a lived reality—alongside spirituality and otherness, transforming the familiar into the mystical. Using biblical iconography, antique Black figures, and flora and fauna, I depict the surreal duality of Southern Black existence. My practice lives at the intersection of heritage and imagination, where history meets possibility.

My collages become portals to examine identity and collective memory. Each piece begins with meticulous research into historical figures, objects, and events. I then employ various printmaking techniques to create imagery that I cut, stitch, and layer in a deliberate act of storytelling. Using both analog and digital collage methods, I construct intricate compositions guided by a simple philosophy: If I can't find it, I'll make it; if I can't make it, I'll find it. The work comes to life through traditional printmaking processes like screen-printing and lithography.

Ultimately, my practice celebrates resilience and the enduring power of printmaking and collage to provoke thought, stir emotion, and ignite change. By embracing their transformative potential, I affirm that every piece carries the power to rewrite history, reclaim agency, and reimagine the world anew—for my nieces and nephews, and for all of us.

To learn more follow Zaire on instagram @that_zaire